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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-12-12 RMLD Board of Commissioners MinutesA Reading Municipal Light Board of Commissioners ReLrular Session 230 Ash Street .Y G Reading, MA 01867 j j VN C L E R December 12, 2002 MASS Start Time of Regular Session: 7:40 p.m. 2003 d P 12. 25- End Time of Regular Session: 9:40 p.m. Attendees Commissioners: Messrs. Hughes, *Pacino, Ames, Soli and Herlihy RMLD Staff: Mr. Cameron, Acting General Manager, Messrs. Blomley, Fournier and Owen Mses. Antonio, Gottwald, Mailett CAB: Messrs. Norton and Van Magness Guest: Mr. Peter Hechenbleikner, Reading Town Manager *Mr. Pacino arrived at 8:20 p.m. This meeting of the Reading Municipal Light Department (RMLD) Board of Commissioners, December 12`", is being broadcast live at the RMLD's office at 230 Ash Street, Reading, MA. Live broadcasts are available only in Reading due to technology constraints. This meeting is being video taped for distribution to the community television stations in North Reading, Wilmington and Lynnfield. Chairman Hughes called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m. Chairman Hughes asked Commissioner Herlihy to act as Secretary Pro Tern as Commissioner Pacino stated he would be late. Report of the Chairman of the Board Mr. Hughes announced a posted Public Relations Subcommittee meeting was held prior to this meeting in the Residential and Commercial Conference Room. Mr. Herlihy noted the RMLD Public Relations Subcommittee met to discuss several items including a review of the very successful Halloween party, which has become a big event for several parents and children in this Town. Mr. Herlihy stated the Subcommittee reviewed the cost of that event, which was a previously questioned concern of the Town. After reviewing the budget and other aspects of the Halloween party, Mr. Herlihy noted it is a positive annual event for RMLD and the community looks forward to it., therefore, he believes it is a good use of public relation funds. Mr. Hughes added to that comment noting over 850 young costumed children accompanied by approximately 400 adults attended this year's Halloween party and being the fourth annual party, it has become an anticipated activity within the community. Ad Hoc RMLD Goverance Advisory Committee Update Mr. Hughes informed the Board the Ad Hoc Committee met as a working group session on Wednesday, December 11' , with the working group consisting of Commissioners Herlihy and Pacino, three members of the Ad Hoc Committee and a member of the Reading Selectmen and the Town Manager. Mr. Hughes stated the topic discussed was outside services. Mr. Herlihy stated he and Commissioner Pacino appreciated the opportunity to work with Ad Hoc Committee and the Town Manager to discuss various reforms and proposals. Mr. Herlihy also stated the Board ought to seriously consider the issues the Ad Hoc Committee will be presenting. Mr. Hughes stated it is very positive to see representation of the RMLD Board on the Ad Hoc Committee. General Manager's Search Committee Update Mr. Hughes noted that at the last meeting of the GM Search Committee, held on December 11`h' the group decided upon three final candidates. Mr. Hughes also stated those candidates will be referred to the RMLD Board and the public at a later date: ,vlr. Ames brought up the issue of the General Manager's contract and asked if there has been a Committee designated to begin working on this new contact. Regular Session Minutes Page Two December 12, 2002 Report of the Chairman of the Board General Manager's Search Committee Update Mr. Hughes stated the GM Search Committee has requested fifteen working agreements, or contracts, from other municipal light departments. Set schedule for the RMLD Board of Commissioner's meetings Mr. Hughes explained this agenda item was a request from RCTV in order to accommodate reservations for live television taping. After a brief discussion, it was decided to schedule the 2003 RMLD Board of Commissioner meetings every other Thursday evenings beginning on January 9`h Selectmen Liaison, Citizen's Advisory Board and Customer Comments Mr. Hughes welcomed the new Citizen's Advisory Board Representative for Reading, Mr. Fred Van Magness, who is replacing Mr. John Corbett. Mr. Hughes also noted in attendance along with Mr. Van Magness is CAB member, Mr. John Norton representing North Reading. Mr. Van Magness introduced himself and distributed a brief history of his background, which included an undergraduate degree in corporate finance and thirty-four years working at General Electric in Lynn prior to retiring last February. Mr. Van Magness stated he spent a great deal of time during his career at General Electric negotiating electric utility contracts during the period of deregulation. Mr. Van Magness stated he testified before the State Department of Public Utilities on deregulation and the impact it had on industrial users of electricity as well as being a Project Manager for a 500 mega-watt co-generation power plant. Action Item CIBFMS As Mr. Cameron explained he has had discussions with the Commission on two separate occasions over the last six months relative to the efforts of the RMLD employees' and their involvement in selecting a new Customer Billing and Financial Management System (CIBFMS) for the RMLD. Mr. Cameron noted the employees have been extremely thorough in this process, which started back in 2000 with Camp, Dresser and McKee, Inc., (CDM), consultants who specialize in these types of businesses, as well as an extensive RFP process, which included twenty-two hundred items that are necessary for this new system. Mr. 'Cameron reiterated it has been a very long process. Mr. Cameron had promised to deliver a motion to the Commission in December to select a successful bidder and an executable contract. Mr. Cameron stated the timing of that promise was not good since the Department is currently caught between this year and next year's budget, both having this new computer system in it, although it was decided to add it to next year's budget since it is so late in the year. Mr. Cameron stated the Department met with the CAB regarding the Capital Budget, of which a portion includes this CIBFMS system. Mr. Cameron noted the CAB raised some pertinent issues with respect to the CIBFMS system, which the Department will clarify at the next meeting. Mr. Cameron recommended to table this action item until the next RMLD Board meeting. RMLD Policy Number 19, Revision Number 6 Mr. Herlihy made a motion seconded by Mr. Ames to approve Policy 19, Revision 6, as recommended by the Policy Subcommittee. Motion 5:0:0 by a show of hands. Mr. Cameron stated this Policy applies to the RMLD Board of Commissioners' duties and responsibilities, and noted one revision to this policy relative to communication between the Commissioners and RMLD employees. Mr. Cameron stated there was a previous revision by a former Board indicating that RMLD employees were not to contact the Commissioners. Mr. Cameron noted the new revision permits the employees to contact the Commissioners if they wish, however, the Commissioners can only initiate contact with employees through the General Manager. Mr. Cameron explained the verbage is a little too strict because this excluded greetings and salutations. Mr. Cameron stated he discussed this with the Board and the Subcommittee and decided that a small amount of change would enable Board members to extend greetings and salutations to employees. Therefore, Mr. Cameron stated the following words were added in section IV, A4, "to be supportive of a good working relationship between management and unions as detailed in the labor relations objectives section of the labor and relations guide for managers to initiate communicative interaction with respect to RMLD business with all RMLD employees only through the General Manager and to provide union employees separate access to the Board as explained in the collective bargaining agreement." Mr. Cameron explained that means the Commissionerscan talk to the employees on a non-business basis and if it has to do with business, please f ommunicate via the General Manager. Regular Session Minutes December 12, 2002 Page Three Action Item RMLD Policy Number 19, Revision Number 6 Mr. Herlihy pointed out an additional change in Policy 19, Revision Number 6 under section "C.1 Responsibilities" indicates that the Commission is accountable to the rate payers in the entire RMLD service area. Mr. Herlihy noted that the Commission is accountable to the Town of Reading and responsible to the rate payers in the entire RMLD service area. Mr. Herlihy asked if that change could be incorporated with the other change for this evening. Brief discussion ensued. It was the feeling of the Board that the Policy Subcommittee should formally meet and further discuss this prior to the Board voting. Ms. Gottwald, Community Relations Manager, stated she has been directed by the Acting General Manager to directly discuss PR issues with the Chairman of the Board and questioned whether that direction still stands in lieu of this revision to Policy 19. Mr. Cameron positively confirmed the request of Ms. Gottwald. Acting General Manager's Report RMLD Fiscal Year Change (Update) Mr. Cameron stated on November 7th the Board made a motion to have the RMLD change its fiscal year to coincide with the Town of Reading's fiscal year of July I" through June 30th. Mr. Cameron stated this motion was made with caveats concerning the reporting to the Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE), reporting to the Federal level, which is the Energy Information Administration and comments from the Citizen's Advisory Board. Mr. Cameron noted he does not have a formal report back, yet, although Mr. Fournier has done quite a bit of investigation on this, and he found that there is one DTE report that is filed on a calendar year basis and the DTE stated they still need that report on a calendar year basis but it may not have to be audited on a calendar basis. Mr. Cameron stated on the two federal reports that are filed, one on a calendar basis and one on a fiscal year basis, and there are five municipal light departments in Massachusetts that file on a fiscal year basis and Mr. Fournier is in the process of contacting those five departments to find out what the implications would be of filing on a fiscal year basis on a calendar year for a few other reports. Mr. Cameron noted the CAB suggested the Department wait until the Ad Hoc Committee makes their final recommendations to the Selectmen. Mr. Cameron stated he will report back to the Board with further information as he receives it. Mr. Hechenbleikner stated the Ad Hoc Governance Committee's recommendations have been consistent with the fiscal year so he believes that won't change with the final report. Mr. Hechenbleikner stated if there is at least a transition plan in place that will satisfy the intent of the Governance Advisory Committee and the Selectmen will adopt those recommendations. Thank you letter from the Reading/North Reading Chamber of Commerce Ms. Gottwald stated she presented the "Service above Self Award" at the Reading/North Reading "Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award Dinner" on November 23`a Telephone call from the Executive Director of the Reading/North Reading Chamber of Commerce Ms. Gottwald stated she received a call from Ms. Carol Hughes, Executive Director of the Reading/North Reading Chamber of Commerce thanking the RMLD for participating in the Tree-Lighting Ceremony on December 1st Thank you e-mail from Priscilla Gottwald Mr. Cameron stated Ms. Gottwald, Public Relations Manager, sent an e-mail to Ms. Antonio, Human Relations Manager, thanking Frank Hadley, Clare Hadley, Phillip LaFleur and Roberta Maillett for their participation in the Tree Lighting Ceremony on December I". ENE Update Mr. Cameron reminded the Commission about the discussion of November 7th, relative to sending notice to ENE about the RMLD's termination as a founding member, and stated when he attended an ENE Board of Directors meeting last week he made them aware of the RMLD's intentions. Mr. Cameron stated he informed the other founding members as well as Mr. Leo Swift, CEO of ENE, and informed them why the-RMLD was terminating as a founding member. Regular Session Minutes Page Four December 12, 2002 Acting General Manager's Report ENE Update Mr. Cameron has the authority to send a terminating letter under his own signature, however, in addition to his signature Mr. Soli would rather have all the RMLD Board members' signature be on the letter. Mr. Cameron will put together the process of getting out of ENE by the next meeting in addition to having an executable letter. Mr. Herlihy questioned how the money is distributed back to us from ENE once we terminate and where would the money go? Mr. Cameron replied, he still needs to review the Operating Agreement to determine how much time ENE has in order to reimburse the RMLD. Mr. Cameron also stated if the money is reimbursed to RMLD, it would be put back into operations, from where it was taken from originally. Board Discussion Revised Local Elections and Town Meeting Calendar 2003-2007 Mr. Hughes noted the revised local elections and Town meeting calendar in the Board books. CIBFMS (Commissioner Soli) Mr. Soli questioned whether the CIBFMS be compatible with a two-step, residential conservation rate and residential payment plan for equal payments each month. Mr. Cameron replied, the budget billing as well as the two-step residential conservation rate, or block rate, will both be handled efficiently with the new computer system. Meeting Date Thursday, December 19, 2002. Other Item Mr. Hechenbleikner stated part of the motion relative to changing the fiscal year to the Town's fiscal year was to evaluate consolidating the audit with the Town's audit. Mr. Hechenbleikner noted it is timely right now because the Town will be looking for three year proposals fairly soon. Discussion ensued. Mr. Van Magness stated relative to the RMLD changing audits to coincide with the Town's audit, that the CAB is given the opportunity to give input into the processes prior to any contract being executed. Mr. Van Magness stated one of the agenda items at the CAB's last meeting was to invite the Ad Hoc Committee, RMLD Board of Commissioners and the Selectmen's of the other Towns for another meeting in January to discuss this very issue. Discussion ensued relative to the transition of changing the fiscal year and the fact two audits may occur within a one year period. Mr. Norton, CAB and North Reading Rotary member, stated Ms. Priscilla Gottwald, Community Relations Manager, does a very fine job in representing the RMLD, she goes out of her way to volunteer for activities, presents herself very well and is a pleasure to work with. Executive Session Motion At 8:45 p.m., Mr. Pacino made a motion seconded by Mr. Ames to enter into Executive Session to discuss strategy with respect to litigation and return to the Regular Session for the sole purpose of adjourning. Motion carried by a show of hands: 5:0:0. Motion to Adjourn At 9:40 p.m., Mr. Pacino made a motion seconded by Mr. Ames to adjourn the Regular Session. Motioncarried by a show of hands 4:0:0. Regular Session Minutes December 12, 2002 Page Five Mr. Pacino called for a poll of the vote: Mr. Ames, Aye; Mr. Pacino, Aye; Mr. Soli; Aye and Mr. Herlihy; Aye. A true copy of the RMLD Board of Commissioners minutes as approved by a majority of the Commission. Andrew K. Herlihy, Secretary Pro Tern RMLD Board of Commissioners